Ivan Kalmar
ivan-kalmar.bsky.social
Ivan Kalmar
@ivan-kalmar.bsky.social

Prof U of Toronto. Studying illiberalism, race, periphery: how are these three connected? East and South peripheries of the EU. Jews, Muslims, Islamophobia, antisemitism.
Author of White But Not Quite: Central Europe's Illiberal Revolt. .. more

Ivan Kalmar is a Czechoslovakian-born Canadian professor.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 53%
Sociology 25%

Slovak minister pitched the PM, Robert Fico, via Epstein for Steve Bannon's project for a right turn in European politics. This, according to some Slovak media, is in the Epstein files.
www.sme.sk/komentare/c/...
Prečo by nás mali zaujímať Lajčákove odkazy pre sexuálneho predátora Epsteina
Ako sa z diplomatickej korešpondencie stala kronika pedofila.
www.sme.sk

Reposted by Ivan Kalmár

This is behind a paywall but well worth a read, a good introduction to some of the ways whiteness is avoided, misunderstood and underestimated. Dm for a copy

Reposted by Rod Earle

Very grateful to Louis Howard Porter for a gracious review of my book White But Not Quite and its contribution to understand how racialization functions in postcommunist Europe.
doi.org/10.1017/slr....
Three Challenges to Racial Innocence - Ed. Catherine Baker, Bogdan C. Iacob, Anikó Imre, and James Mark. Off White: Central and Eastern Europe and the Global History of Race. Manchester: Manchester Un...
Three Challenges to Racial Innocence - Ed. Catherine Baker, Bogdan C. Iacob, Anikó Imre, and James Mark. Off White: Central and Eastern Europe and the Global History of Race. Manchester: Manchester Un...
doi.org

Me: "Do you have a bias that could be described as Western?"
AI: "Yes, almost certainly. I was built by a San Francisco company, trained predominantly on English-language text, and my training data massively overrepresents perspectives from Western academic, journalistic, and internet discourse."

The brutal postwar decrees hitting Germans and Hungarians in Czechoslovakia wouldn't stand up to human rights standards today. But it's worrying how Péter Magyar, who might replace Orbán, is joining this trivial naming dispute to attract reactionary nationalists.
telex.hu/english/2026...
Slovak president responds to Magyar's open letter, says referring to Slovakia 
as Felvidék is an insult
Peter Pellegrini was responding to a letter written by the Tisza Party president to Slovak PM Fico about the recently adopted law in Slovakia which, Magyar said violates human rights, causes fear, div...
telex.hu

A lively discussion followed the brilliant @manuelaboatca.bsky.social's presentation at the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies of U of Toronto's Munk School yesterday, discussing her and Anca Parvulescu's book, Creolizing the Modern.

He may not stay in Budapest too long; perhaps they'll both have to go to Moscow if Orbán falls as well.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Hungary grants asylum to former Polish minister amid abuse of power investigation
Former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro faces allegations he ran a criminal group while in government
www.theguardian.com

One of the victims of the antisemitic attack in Sidney was a Slovak-Australian Holocaust survivor, Marika Pogany, a friend of the former Slovak president, Zuzana Čaputová.
www.facebook.com/zcaputova/po...
Zuzana Čaputová
V Sydney opäť zabíjala nenávisť. Správy o teroristickom útoku v Sydney ma veľmi zasiahli. Útočníci sa rozhodli popraviť členov židovskej komunity, ktorí sa stretli k oslave sviatku Chanuka. Je to...
www.facebook.com
Markus Frohnmaier of the German far-right AfD meets a US State Department official, praises MAGA, attacks Europe’s political direction – and has a long record of pro-Kremlin engagement. This article connects the dots: shekhovtsov.substack.com/p/from-mosco...

Salvini, leader of the even-more-right-wing opposition: "I dream of Italy reopening bridges to Russia before the others." 1. Salvini doesn't think Hungary and Slovakia are important enough for him to include among "the others." 2. No comment.
www.repubblica.it/politica/202...
Salvini: “Sogno che l’Italia riapra i ponti con la Russia prima degli altri”
La Lega frena ancora sulle armi all’Ucraina. Romeo: “No a missili a lungo raggio, decreto di proroga aiuti non allineato al percorso negoziale”
www.repubblica.it

In Moscow, Putin told Orbán that it was Trump's idea to hold a US-Russia summit on Ukraine in Budapest, according to the Orbán mouthpiece, the newspaper Magyar Nemzet.
magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2025...
Egy lépéssel közelebb a budapesti békecsúcs? – videón Orbán Viktor és Vlagyimir Putyin találkozója
Magyarországon vannak jelenleg a legalacsonyabb energiaárak Európában.
magyarnemzet.hu

I just got news from Bristol University Press that they granted translation rights to a Polish publisher. I don't know yet who that is, but I'm overjoyed. I always wanted the book to be accessible in Polish. Ale się cieszę!

Orbán is not "echoing" Trump, as the article says. He was there first. Trump is echoing him, if anything.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Trump gives Hungary one-year exemption from Russian energy sanctions
The opt-out comes despite the US increasing pressure on allies to sever economic ties with Russia.
www.bbc.com

Fascinating article by James Renton on the origins of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and its entanglements with islamophobia.
www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251028-mus...
Muslim surveillance: The real story behind the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism
In May 2016, an organisation of Western governments headquartered in Berlin, called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), adopted a definition of anti-Semitism that incorporates …
www.middleeastmonitor.com

What an amazing, important project.
PAMIĘĆ POLSKO-AFRYKAŃSKA
Komunikat Stowarzyszenia NIGDY WIĘCEJ
#1listopada Stowarzyszenie NIGDY WIĘCEJ uczciło pamięć polskich uchodźców zmarłych w Afryce w latach II wojny światowej i zaapelowało o humanitarne traktowanie uchodźców we współczesnej Polsce.
www.nigdywiecej.org/komunikaty/r...

Reposted by Ivan Kalmár

PAMIĘĆ POLSKO-AFRYKAŃSKA
Komunikat Stowarzyszenia NIGDY WIĘCEJ
#1listopada Stowarzyszenie NIGDY WIĘCEJ uczciło pamięć polskich uchodźców zmarłych w Afryce w latach II wojny światowej i zaapelowało o humanitarne traktowanie uchodźców we współczesnej Polsce.
www.nigdywiecej.org/komunikaty/r...

Slovak cartoon: "Politicians have made a law to set up a walking speed limit of 6 km/h. Finally! A measure to slow down the departure of young people from the country."

Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Budapest against the Orbán government, while opposition leader Péter Magyar leads in the polls with an agenda ("moderate" to be sure) of social justice.
www.reddit.com/r/europe/com...
From the europe community on Reddit: It seems we are witnessing the largest demonstration in Budapest so far
Explore this post and more from the europe community
www.reddit.com

In Egypt, Trump explicitly wished Orbán good luck in the upcoming elections. Choosing to meet with Putin in Budapest is another gift to this architectsof "illiberal democracy," who is facing a very serious electoral challenge.
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
Hungary to ensure Putin can enter Budapest for summit with Trump – Europe live
Russian president is facing arrest warrrant from International Criminal Court for war crimes
www.theguardian.com

It seems that in the Czech parliamentary election, there was a successful effort by voters to elect female candidates.
denikn.cz/1859395/vysl...
Výsledek je pro nás šok, překonali jsme kritickou masu, říká vedoucí iniciativy Zakroužkuj ženu
„Před čtyřmi lety jsme co chvíli četli, jak si vymýšlíme a že si tu ženy přece žijí úplně stejný život jako muži a my chceme jen tupě prosazovat jedno pohlaví bez ohledu na kompetence,“ říká v rozhovo...
denikn.cz

In the Czech parliamentary elections, parties from the left to the centre-right received 89.59% of the vote, and A. Babiš's "populist" ANO only 3.24% - among Czech voters in Canada. (Not quite so back home.)
www.seznamzpravy.cz/p/vysledky-v...
Volby 2025 a Kanada - Výsledky voleb online
Volby 2025: Kanada – aktuální výsledky online – průběžné i konečné. Všechny informace o volbách a jejich průběhu přehledně.
www.seznamzpravy.cz

Orbán's mouthpiece newspaper Magyar Nemzet revels in Trump's plans to prosecute George Soros, Orbán's long-term obsession. This is perhaps the most striking of the many parallels between Hungarian and American autocracy today.
magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2025...
Sorosék ellen hamarosan vádat emelhetnek
A Trump-kormányzat ezzel a USAID leépítése után a baloldali korrupciós hálózat másik fontos pillérét ütheti ki.
magyarnemzet.hu

The Progressive Slovakia party is the country's most popular, ahead of the leading "populist" Smer.
www.politico.eu/europe-poll-...
POLITICO Poll of Polls — Slovakian polls, trends and election news for Slovakia
POLLING FROM ACROSS EUROPE. UPDATED DAILY. Slovakia — National parliament voting intention What is Poll of Polls and how does it work? Read more here. Slovakia — European election 2024 results…
www.politico.eu

For his sake, let's wish him a speedy recovery and for the country's sake, let's wish this doesn't make him more likely to be elected.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Andrej Babis: Czech opposition leader hit in head with crutch at rally
Andrej Babis's party blamed the government for creating a climate of hate against the ex-PM.
www.bbc.com

Orbán's geopolitical ideology in a nutshell: Hungary is a "Western country," but the only one with a good relationship with Russia.
telex.hu/english/2025...
Szijjártó: Trump did not call Viktor Orbán after his talks with European leaders
The reports about such a call are false according to the minister. He did not, however, exclude the possibility of Budapest hosting talks between Zelensky and Putin.
telex.hu

"Ukraine should not be admitted to the European Union, bringing in the war with it – even if the whole of Brussels responds by throwing a fit." - Viktor Orbán
miniszterelnok.hu/en/lecture-o...
Lecture of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 34th Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp - The official website of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Attendees at the Free University.
miniszterelnok.hu

Interesting word of the day: tsundoku 積ん読 (Japanese) - to buy books and not read them or only read a part of them. Apparently this is considered to be a positive thing in Japan, as you may possibly read the works later.